Where does TNA rank

[shattered dreams]

I think K4P touches on an interesting distinction when he talks about the wrestling he has grown to enjoy. Enjoyment of prowrestling seems to follow an arc of development where tastes age over time. There is a reason that just about everyone rates what got them started first. What is interesting is trying to compare nostalgia vs what appeals to you now. Not only are you judging different products but you have to find a way to compare the different standards you judged them by.

It's an interesting topic but I don't care for your stated premise. I think the input of people who dislike TNA is just as valuable as that of those who do.

I am not sure any of our input is especially "valuable" but the only reason I stated it that way was A) because that was my interest and this thread is high in opinion anyway and B) because I thought people that did not like the products responses might essentially all be the same and have little merit to the side discussions. After reading a mix from both sides I'd say all are interesting regardless of preference. It is indeed interesting to see if TNA is actually losing ground by still being around in some odd peoples judgment.

If you don't like the answer, don't ask the question.

The whole point was why wouldn't I like the answer. Everyone is free to give their opinion.

You stated that you didn't want discussions to focus upon ratings, or business considerations, and things like that, so I expanded the parameters beyond such considerations, exactly as you requested.

I did not think you were attempting to derail FWIW. I think it was a misunderstanding in that I essentially wanted everyone to base it on their own personal enjoyment factor. That is why I thought some of the things you listed were irrelevant like mass appeal and viability outside of North America. They could have a ton of, or zero, worldwide viability and it still wouldn't effect a person theoretical enjoyment IMO. I'd also dispute that TNAs production values are going backward, but I might make a thread about these mythic production values later anyway.

As I see it, TNA has yet to even establish themselves to any significant degree outside of North America. Outside of a small cult following, consistently largely of IWC marks, TNA has no presence beyond the confines of North America.

Depends what you mean by "establish" but they have traveled some place of interest and have shows in many places. The UK where they can do something like 150,000 viewers each week for impact seems beyond IWC.

 

[Schizophrenic]

1) NWA (80's when it was the best)
2) WWF (early 90's and Attitude Era)
3) WCW (The whole thing)
4) ROH (Best wrestling in the US today, bar none)
5) TNA (I just enjoy it
6) WWE (I like it but given the option of my others this would be last on the list)

I don't know why, maybe it's because I grew up with NWA, Flair, Horseman, Magnus, Dusty, Rock & Roll Express, Road Warriors, Sting and all of them why I enjoy the NWA and even WCW & TNA because it reminds me alot of that. I always have been a fan of wrestling matches over the stories and sdly that's what WWE has become almost entirely. I still say that TNA has a greta talent roster but a product that needs work. WWE has some good ones, but they don't allow them to show it more. Maybe it's because the kids don't have the attention span the young adults and older generations do which is why ROH and TNA (as well as NWA did) tends to cater to them with more matches and better matches than stories.

 

[Kaeden]

Interesting topic. Got me pondering. I like pondering.

1) ECW
~For me, nothing compares to ECW's product when it was on its game. I find it easy to pull for the underdog, and i always wanted to see ECW succeed. They had original storylines, engaging characters and were miles ahead of WWF and WCW....at the time.
2) WCW (Pre-Russo)
3) WWF (Attitude Era)
~Being a wrestling fan in the 90's was glorious. Personally, i pulled for WCW because i preferred the in-ring talent (mostly purged from ECW), while my friends preferred the WWF machine. After a few glorious years of being on top, WCW pulled the rug out from under me and i was forced to change the channel. I blame Russo.
4) TNA
~TNA is my favorite wrestling program right now. Its not perfect, but it entertains me. And that's all that matters.
5) AWA
~I had the great fortune of spending a week in Florida, locked in a hotel room with my father, who threw his back out in Disneyland. I was hooked up with 4 years worth of AWA on ESPN Classics. Hooked!

Others i enjoy but cannot rank include: RoH, Chikara and PWG. I've seen bits and pieces, but not enough to rank them historically with any accuracy.

 

[Kenny Powers]

1. WWF Era/ WWE Era 2002-2005
2. Jim Crockett Promotions/ Mid Atlantic/ WCW 90's era
3. ECW- Original Era
4. TNA Wrestling
5. Smoky Mountain Wrestling
6. Ring of Honor
7. WWE Era 2005-2010

I grew up watching the WWF from the 80's and 90's. I loved WWF then and even more when they grew into the attitude era. I enjoyed the the post attitude era in early 2000, but wasn't such a big fan of the WWE era. I'm even less of a fan now of the WWE Era from 2005-2010.

Jim Crockett Promotions which later became WCW was the company you tuned in to see real wrestling. Stars such as Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Stan Hanson, Sting, and many others made their name there. WCW was kinda of a joke in the early 90s with Robocop and The Black Scorpion. Once they challenged WWF on Monday Nights with Monday Nitro it really revolutionized the business.

The original ECW era was basically a new style of wrestling. The intensity and drive of ECW was rarely seen anywhere else. Companies like WWE and TNA tried to catch lightning in a bottle by recreating ECW, but it never worked. ECW would probably have never been successful even if they didn't go bankrupt. It was just made for that certain era of time. Kinda like Grunge or Punk music.

I chose TNA Wrestling not only because I'm a fan, but because of the history it has. No one has ever became a force to even think about competing with WWE. No company has risen faster in such a short amount of time then TNA. Even though it was originally called NWA-Total Non Stop Action, TNA soon withdrew from NWA in 2004 to become their own company. They are nowhere near close of being at WWE's dominant level, but no other wrestling company has come close over the past 8 years.

I loved SMW because it was basically the ECW of the tri state era. The big wrestling promotions rarely went to small towns in Tennessee, Kentucky, or Virginia. SMW changed all that. It was great to see WCW, WWF, and ECW stars wrestle in my hometown in SMW. SMW was probably never a huge success, but I credit Jim Cornette for giving back to the small towns where we grew up in.

I put ROH and the WWE era 2005-2010 last on my list. ROH does have some of the best matches you can see and I know I will get a lot of hate for this, but ROH doesn't interest me. I have seen some great matches and I know there have been a shitload of great talent. I would pay to go see ROH if it came to my town, but it isn't a wrestling show I regularly watch. WWE is the same now, but its not because of the PG era.

WWE will tweak my interest every now and then with a good storyline at first with Nexus or Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz, but then I will lose interest and not care if I watch a show or not. I will say WWE has been better this year than previous years, but the only reason I watch now is just out of habit. Some Raw programs are better than others. I always watch because I hope that I will see something shocking like the return of Randy Savage, or even a new champion.

Raw used to be so exciting every night even after the attitude era. You could turn it on and see Eric Bischoff or Hulk Hogan or someone you never thought you would ever see in a WWE ring again. When I see Jillian Hall sing, Santino tell a lame joke, or a no name celebrity guest host bomb on a 20 minute segment. I just can't get into the rest of the show no matter how good it is.

 

[ABMorales787]

1) WWF Attitude Era:
My first experience with pro wrestling happened to be Mankind being thrown off Hell In The Cell by The Undertaker. Was hooked ever since.

2) TNA Wrestling:
Years after ECW and WCW died, I was getting pretty bored with WWE as they really weren't putting as much interest as they used to (in my eyes). Then Kurt Angle vanished from WWECW without a trace. Next thing I hear he's showing up in what I used to think was an MMA company. Then I saw the commercial for Slammiversary: This Is The One (outdated PPV channel) and saw Jeff Jarrett, Christian, Sting, Nash and 3D. This was obviously not MMA. My first watch was the Joe/Angle confrontation that drew the crowd insane. It hooked me immediately. The rest was history.

3) Capital Sports Promotions:
Now Puerto Rico's WWC, this company had in my eyes, some of the most violent things I've seen. Carlos Colon was Mick Foley before Mick Foley as he went out there literally to have forks driven on his forehead, burned countlessly and be nailed by more rusty chairs than the Heat Wave 1994 incident. I watched via some old tapes and this is where I first saw Randy Savage, Ric Flair and of course, Abdullah The Butcher. A man who has cemented himself as a local pop culture icon just because of a fork.

4) ECW
I was an 11 year old who watched DBZ. I craved blood and guts a lot. I didn't even care that the matches were sometimes really awful.

5) WCW
Wetheir it was the cruiserweights or Sting, Flair and Steamboat, this company really had awesome matches. While I did enjoy the NWO, the wrestling history is what hooked me the most. It was just different for a reason.

 

[DERO1979]

I thought the original poster wanted us to rank promotions not era's but since most people are doing era's I will too....

1) WWF Attitude
2) I guess I'm the old guy on these boards as I only saw one other member even mention Hogan era of the 80's and early 90's.
3) WCW 1990's...I hated WCW but hated them like I hate the Eagles being a Cowboys fan. Doesn't mean they weren't good. I rooted for them to lose but they kept things interesting for years. nWo was the greatest angle in the history of wrestling....
4) TNA
5) G.L.O.W. Doesnt anyone remember Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling? Google it. Big Bad Mama, Hollywood, the Farmers' daughter. That was good stuff....

 

[itpays2bsryaboutyrdamluck]

1. WCW
2. TNA
3. NWA *various promotions*


..never been a big fan of WWF/E so it didn't even make my list, I have watched it at times, but never enjoyed it like WCW, don't exactly enjoy TNA either, as far as the storylines go, but I do enjoy watching the talent

 

[TommLew10]

1. WCW - I starting watching wrestling in the early 90's and they had my favorite wrestler (Sting). Then it got better as they added talent until the point where the NWO blew up and I watched on and off after halloween havoc 98. I finally stopped watching around the time NWO wolfpack had went into full swing. I loved the Hollywood Hogan gimmick and I watched every Goldberg match hoping he'd lose. This definitely brings back fond memories of my childhood and I like it better than WWF, because they seemed a bit more unrealistic, when I started watching with characters like Papa Shango and the Undertaker and what not. Then when I seen Scott Hall and Kevin Nash come using real names to WCW it just made it seem more realistic and more like a soap opera as opposed to a cartoon to me.

2. WWF attitude era - I really liked WWF in the attitude era and I got to the point where I would flip back and forth and sometimes look at it a little more from time to time although WCW was still my favorite out of the two. I didn't see WCW during the Russo era or WWF really so during the majority of the time I watched the attitude era I felt WCW was still putting out just as good a product. The attitude era though is when I felt WWF became more realistic and wasn't as cartoony as it had been previously.

TNA - I just started watching TNA or wrestling in general again starting about December 09. During this time I've realized how much wrestling has changed and it's just not as entertaining in general as the 90's were, but I've also watched Raw during this same stretch and I prefer it to Raw, mainly because it isn't nearly as predictable as Raw is at this point. I think they have potential it's just a matter of hoping that it clicks for them.

WWE pg era - This is by far the worst out of all that I have watched outside of liking a lot of the recognizable theme songs and having a better crowd than TNA, the product is far too predictable and not what I was expecting after starting back watching. I'll put it this way it's definitely not the Attitude era the last time I had previously watched. The pg era is definitely not fun at all.

 

[Derrtown]

1. WWF (1998-2003)
2. TNA
3. WCW


The Rock and Austin were wrestling to me. They were everything i loved about the WWF as was the attitude era. Once both of them left WWF/E became terribly unwatchable. And i lost interest in Wrestling in 2004. In 2008 i found TNA and TNA just brought back the passion as a fan i had back in the WWF days. Even now its the closest thing we will ever have to the attitude era and i love it.
WCW will be third but that doesnt mean i dont love it as much as the others. WCW was the first wrestling program i ever watched and because of that it will always be special to me. Id rate local promotions before i rate what WWE became 2004 to now, thats why its not on my list.

 

[pjIXOYE]

Sure...I'll gladly elaborate on why I ranked WWE over WWF...For me being a long time fan, I loved watching the Business as a whole grow..WCW pushed WWF to the limits...then they "got the F out" and stood up and produced a decent show..rather than characters going back and forth between shows (or likenesses thereof) . I like the "Spectacle" of it all. It really puts the sport I've loved for so long on the "map" in the general media.